Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Teachable Moment?

As a teacher, I know how difficult it is to capture the students’ attention.When the students’ interest is high, when they are engaged with an issue, it can be a “teachable moment”, when learning is most effective.Right now, we have such a moment.The students, from secondary school to university, are engaged to a high degree, with the issue of government, how the chief executive should be elected. A teacher who truly care about the students would be happy to take this moment to engage the students, to guide them in their efforts in learning about society and matters of government.

Instead, a certain former head of a reputable university, the minister of education, a certain headmaster, and myriad pro-establishment figures are jumping up and down to tell our students to just submit to the wishes of Beijing. They are blaming the students for wasting time and public funds, creating undesirable and futile confrontation, and leading down a path of violence. All these when the students are demonstrating maturity and great restraint in demonstrating peacefully. It is the so called adults who are bad-mouthing the students. It is a sad commentary on the quality of our leaders.